When your district needs to get data into SchoolFront from another source, you will import this information into SchoolFront. This is especially useful when you want to send the information/data from excel into a form and then send the form to the employees to take action. To do this, you will create a form, then pair it with the excel sheet that has the data you want imported into SchoolFront.
Once uploaded, the data will import into the custom fields on the form you created, then you can send to employee(s) via SchoolFront. Your employee(s) can edit, save, sign off - or perform any task that's required of the form and data you've sent them.
Scenario's when this feature would be useful to your district:
- Uploading emergency contact information that will be sent to employees to verify/edit and send back to Human Resources
- Uploading vacation or sick day information to send to employees to verify and complete vacation or sick day buy back forms
To do this, the first step is to create the form if not already created. You can create a new form by using the template builder.
A few things to keep in mind when creating your custom fields for your form:
- When building your form, the custom fields from the form will be created from the headers on the excel sheet to match EXACTLY. For the employee identifier, you must always change the employee ID/staff id excel column - to "EmployeeNumber" on the excel heading sheet you are importing into SchoolFront.
- The field display option "Submit" must be selected as "Editable" for the custom fields that you are importing the data into:
Once you've completed the form design, you are ready to begin your import.
Navigate to Process Forms - Import from File
Select the form category and form. Then choose the external excel file and upload it.
Once the form uploads you will see the preview prior to actually importing the data. If it doesn't appear right, you can cancel the import.
Once the data imports, you'll see the Import Summary:
Next, navigate to Process Forms - Forms Pending my Approval, and you should see the form that was sent to the employees from your import. A notification may also be sent when the forms are assigned to the employees.
The employees receiving the form, will see them on their profile under "Items Requiring your Attention".